Sparta and Athens

Ancient Greece

Objectives

1.Find out what it was like to live in the ancient city of Sparta.

2.Learn about the Persian invasion of Greece.

3.Examine other conflicts faced by the Athenian Empire.

Key Terms

Sparta (SPAHR tuh) n. a city-state in the southern part of ancient Greece.

Helot (HEL ut) n. a member of a certain class of servants in ancient Sparta.

Peloponnesian War (pel uh puh NEE shun wawr) n. 431-404 B.C) a war fought between Athens and Sparta in ancient Greece, involving almost every other Greek city-state.

Plague (playg) n. a wide-spread disease.

Blockade (blah KAYD) n. an action taken to isolate an enemy and cut off its supplies

The boy stood still and straight beside his compansion as their trainer approached. “You,” the trainer barked. “Are you sick? You cannot escape sword practice – and why are you holding your belly? Are you hiding something?”

The trainer gave the boy’s cloak a sharp tug. It fell to the ground, freeing a fox that streaked off into the underbrush. The boy sank down to the ground, shaking. His cloak was a crimson red. His side was shredded with deep cuts and bites. The hungry boy had stolen the fox for his dinner. Hidden beneath his cloak, the fox had clawed and bitten him.

Later, the boy died from his wounds. The people of his city, Sparta, celebrated his life. He had endured terrible pain without giving any sign of his stress. To the Spartans, such behavior was the sign of true character.

This Spartan story of the boy and the fox may or may not be true. Yet it tells us much about the people of Sparta, a city-state in southern Greece.

Living in Sparta

If life in Athens was free and open then life for the citizens of Sparta was the opposite. Life in Sparta was harsh. The Spartans themselves were tough, silent, and grim. Sparta’s army easily equaled Athens’ in 400 B.C. However, Sparta never came close to equaling Athens’ other achievements.

A City Devoted to War

In its early days, Sparta seemed to be similar to other Greek cities. Then, in the 600s B.C., wars inside and outside the city led to changes in government and the way people lived. The changes turned Sparta into a powerful machine. The city-state had made one basic rule: Always put the city’s needs above your own.

Early in its history, the Spartans conquered the land around their city. They turned the conquered people into helots, or servants of Sparta. Helots did all farm work on the land owned by Spartan citizens, freeing the Spartans to wage war. However, the helots far outnumbered the Spartans. Living in fear of helot rebellion, the Spartans turned their city into a miliatary society. They treated the helots very harshly.

Growing Up in Sparta

The life of every Spartan was in the hands of the government from an early age. Community leaders examined newborn infants. Those thought to be too sickly would be left to die. Military training began early for boys. At seven, a Spartan boy left his home to live in barracks with other boys. His training continued for the next 13 years.

By the age of 12, a boy had spent long hours practicing with swords and spears. He had only one cloak and a thin mat to sleep on. He could hardly live on the food he was given, so he as urged to steal. The Spartans believed that stealing would help him learn how to live off the land during a war. However, if the boy was caught, he was severely punished. After all, if a soldier was caught stealing, he would probably be killed. Boys were expected to bear pain, hardship, and punishment in silence.

Like the boys, girls also trained and competed in wrestling and spear throwing. No one expected the girls to become solders. But Spartans did believe that girls who grew up strong and healthy would have strong, healthy children. Spartan women had somewhat more freedoms that women in other Greek city-states. They were allowed to own land even take part in business.

Spartan life lacked the beauty and pleasures found in Athens and some other Greek cities. But Spartan warriors were known for their skill and bravery. The Spartan fighting force played a key role in the Greek wars against the Persians, a people who lived across the Aegean Sea to the east of Greece.

What was life like for women of Sparta?

The Persians Invade

Much o the history of the Greeks tells of wars they fought among themselves. But near the beginning of the 400s B.C., a new threat loomed: the growing might of Persia.

The Expanding Persian Empire

By about the mid-500s B.C., Cyrus the Great had founded the Persian Empire. Cyrus and later rulers then extended the original empire. By 520 B.C., the persians had gained control of the Greek colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. See the map titled Greece and the Persian Empire on page 192.

Battle at Marathon

In the fall of 490 B.C., a huge force of thousands of Persians landed in Greece itself. They gathered at Marathon, about 40 kilometers north of Athens. The Athenians hastily put together a small army. The Persians outnumbered them by at least two to one. For several days the armies stared tensely at each other across the plain of Marathon.

Then, without warning, the Athenians rushed the Persians, who were overwhelmed by the furious attack. By one account, the Athenians had killed 6,400 Persians and lost only 192 of their own soldiers. The Persian losses may be exaggerated. The truth is that in a short time, this tiny state had defeated the giant that had come to destroy it.

More battles with Persia followed. As a common enemy, Persia distracted the Greek city-states from fighting one another. Briefly united, the Greeks drove the Persians away.

What happened during the battle at Marathon?

Conflict and the Athenian Empire

After the Persians were finally defeated, the influence of Athens spread over much of eastern Greece. Athens allied itself, or became partners, with other city-states. Athens worked to strengthen democratic groups within the city-states. In time, these cities became more like subjects than allies.

Sparta and Athens at War

Athens may have been a democracy at home, but it began to treat its allied city-states unfairly. At first, the allies had paid tribute to Athens for protection in case the Persians again became a threat. But later, Athens used this money for building the Parthenon and other projects. In response, the people of these city-states began to resent Athens’ power. They looked to Sparta, which had not joined the alliance, to protect them. In 431 B.C., allies of Sparta and Athens fought. Thus began the Peloponnesian War, a conflict between Athens and Sparta that lasted 27 years. It is called the Peloponnesian War because Sparta was located in Pelopponese, the southern Greek peninsula.

The Fall of Athens

Most of what we know about the Peloponnesian War comes from Greek historian Thucydides. Thucydides saw the war first hand. He later wrote an eyewitness account of the war. Early in the Peloponnesian War, Athens was struck by a plague, or a widespread disease. By the time the plague ended five years later, about one third of Athens’ people had died from it. Among the dead was Pericles. His death was a great blow to Athens.

Athens never recovered from its losses during the plague. In 405 B.C., the Spartans staged a blockade, an action taken to isolate an enemy and cut of its supplies. The Spartans surrounded and closed the harbor where Athens received food shipments. Starving and beaten, the Athenians surrendered in 404 B.C. The victorious Spartans knocked down Athens’ walls. Athens never again dominated the Greek world.

How did the Spartans finally defeat the Athenians?

Comprehension and Critical Thinking

1. (a) Recall Describe what life was like for people living in Sparta.

1. (b) Compare and Contrast You have read previously about life in ancient Athens. Compare life in Sparta with life in Athens.

2. (a) Describe How did the Greeks overcome the Persian invasion in 490 B.C.?

2. (b) Explain What do you think was at stake for the people of Athens at the Battle of Marathon?

2. (c) Predict How might the history of Greece have changed if Persia had won at Marathon?

3. (a) Summarize How did the Athenian Empire develop after its victory over Persia?

3. (b) Identify Causes In what ways did Athens contribute to its own downfall?